The difficulties encountered by individuals and small firms in managing such operations once they become complex are known; it is also known how fiddly they can become when performed, not occasionally, but habitually and repetitively, and when the articles to be purchased making up a list differ from the preceding list merely by updating, and it can thus be seen how advantageous it would be to be able to bring such a list up to date easily at any time on the basis of information that is current and easily accessible.
Some of the information depends directly on the purchaser, such as stock level or available budget; other information can be parameterized as a function of criteria such as season, purchasing periodicity, number of guests at table, a recipe, or a diet; finally other information is available with the vendor, but is not always accessible to the purchaser when drawing up the list, e.g. article availability, prices, promotions, and sales.
Thus, it would be advantageous for the purchaser to be able to draw up a list of purchases by means of a system that is simple yet effective, without omission and without repetition, even if the list needs to be drawn up over a period of time that is quite long and by several different people independently, and for it to be possible to organize said list automatically as a function of criteria such as type of goods, place of sale, and method of delivery or of payment, thus making it possible to avoid errors and loss of time when ordering goods or making purchases in a store.
Simultaneously, the vendor would like to have a marketing analysis tool available enabling customers to be identified by location, tastes, purchasing habits, and budget, thus making it possible to inform customers of any information relevant to making an order, whenever such information becomes available, thereby offering better service to customers and increasing the vendor's chance of keeping their customers.
Some order-management software makes it possible to manage the making up of the list, but is too complex and inconvenient for use by individuals.
Computer networking makes it possible to interchange data in real time in certain leading professional sectors, such as the travel industry.
In the long term, on-line selling in association with video catalogs should make it possible to simplify and rationalize purchasing by individuals, except insofar as such selling will always be restricted whenever physical contact is necessary or desirable. That has already been proposed in WO-A-85 02700 which describes a system for ordering goods or services by generating data representative of a particular order, which data is sent to a local processor center over telephone lines.
Furthermore, many individuals receive a great deal of information via TV advertising and make purchase decisions before going to the point of sale: they make a list on a wall chart and then copy it down onto a piece of paper shortly before going there. In the long term, freestanding interactive video terminals at the point of sale for providing information and help in decision-making may participate in updating information, but that will nevertheless not make it possible to combine such information with criteria specific to the customer and expressed on a paper list.